Henry Ford supposedly said a buyer could have his Model T painted any color he liked – so long as it was black. At least he didn’t charge extra.
Today, you can get your vehicle painted just about any color you like. But you’ll probably have to pay extra for it.
For example, the 2024 Mini Clubman is available in ten different colors – but if you want any of them except for Chili Red and Sage Green, that’ll be another $650. Including for Black or White.
The good news is that you can get either of two interior colors – Carbon Sena Tec or Sage Green Lounge – at no extra cost. On the other hand, Carbon Black Lounge will set you back $2,500. Indigo Blue, Malt Brown and Chesterfield Satellite Grey are deals at just $1,750.
If only it were just Mini. Sadly, it has become common to pay extra to get the color you want – sometimes, even if it’s black. 
And that’s why you see so many new/late-model cars painted just a handful of colors. The standard (no extra cost) colors. Because the optional (extra cost) colors routinely add as much to the car’s price as what it used to cost to add AC or a sunroof.
By the way, you can thank Tesla for starting this trend – just like you can thank Bill Gates for starting the trend of licensing the software you used to own after you paid for it. Tesla is also the brand that first began to charge ongoing for options you thought you bought, such as its self-driving feature. BMW is one of the others “exploring” this new revenue stream, by hitting its buyers up for subscription-based options such as heated seats, which only work so long as you keep paying up.
Another gotcha is having to pay extra to get a spare tire rather than an inflator kit. Mini wants another $250 for that one. It’s not just Mini, either. And at least Mini offers the option. A number of brands don’t. And almost none include a full-size spare as standard, which it generally used to be. Most (but not all) trucks still do – but for how much longer?
Then there’s what’s styled the “smoker’s package” – which means an ashtray. And means it’s not included.
Contrariwise, pretty much every new vehicle includes standard equipment few, if any of us, want – and would be quite pleased to not have to pay extra for. The list is long and includes automatic engine stop/start “technology” – the system that cuts the engine off practically every time the vehicle momentarily stops moving, as at red lights – cutting off the AC (usually mechanically driven, by the engine) in the process. The light goes green, you take your foot off the brake and the engine automatically restarts, after a slight but noticeable delay while it starts.
It’s annoying, at the least. And it adds to the cost of the car – and to the cost of maintaining it. Most people don’t know it, but ASS-equipped cars come standard with two batteries. One – the one you can see, located in one of the usual places under the hood – is there to start the engine the first time you start it, as when you’re first heading out for a drive. But there’s also a second, smaller battery – ferreted deep inside somewhere you can’t see it, which is part of the reason why few know it’s there.
If they did know it, they might balk at buying it. Because of the hassle – and cost – of replacing it when it inevitably weakens and can no longer hold a charge, as eventually happens to all batteries. (I had to deal with this recently – with a brand-new Dodge Hornet that wouldn’t start because the second battery had croaked.)
Few will be able to replace the second battery themselves – because getting at it will usually require significant disassembly of other parts of the car just to get at the other battery.
But why is there an extra battery? It’s there to store extra charge to keep ASS operational. Otherwise, the serial re-starting would rapidly deplete the main starter battery, which in turn will make the alternator (a very expensive part in a modern car) work harder as it tries to recharge it. To avoid main battery depletion and early alternator demise, extra electrical power is stored in the second battery, to keep ASS working sort-of smoothly.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to pay extra for that? Unfortunately – unlike the option to not pay extra for the color you’d like – there’s no option to opt out pf ASS, assuming you still want to buy the car.
Same goes for the plethora of “advanced” – as they’e styled – “driver assistance technologies.” They weirdly became de facto standard equipment in most new cars beginning about five or so years ago and now are in fact standard equipment in all new cars. This is interesting given many people very much dislike being “assisted” – which of course means being parented – by their cars, because it’s implicitly degrading as well as controlling. If a person knows how to drive, they need “assistance” driving like a person who can control their bowels needs a diaper.
Imagine being told – when you go shopping for groceries – that you must put a box of Depends in your cart and pay for them, too. That is essentially what’s happened with “advanced driver assistance technologies” such as Lane Keep Assist, Automatic Emergency Braking, Park Assist, Back-up Assist and – wait for it! – Trailer Back-up Assistance, often marketed as “pro,” an inversion worthy of Idiocracy II if a sequel is ever made.
But when it comes to paint, you can have just about any color you want. Provided you’re willing to pay extra for it.
. . .
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The interior options are expensive eye rollers. The color of the stitching on the upholstery! And the dash trim. carbon fiber! Fine wood colored (but it’s basically plastic right!). Then the salesman oohs and aahhs over whatever you chose as if you just bought a Picasso.
The reason Model T’s were black is because black paint dried the fastest, which lowered the cost of manufacture.
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Oh, really? I always thought black paint was simply cheaper.
It is MBA Fucktard Maggotry/Douchbaggery.
Paint colors….
Black is best…easiest to match ….white is second best for the same reason….they both are probably cheaper too….and probably no clear coat to repair….
Tell me you know nothing about paint without saying you know nothing about paint.
Black is best…easiest to match ….white is second best for the same reason…
quoted from the pros in the business…….but…..you say they are wrong…..
I spent 10 years of my career manufacturing the paint that they matched.
Believe me, black can be a bitch to get right.
But hey, what do I know?
My car has a DIC, but no ASS.
Be thankful that your ASS doesn’t have a DIC in it. That would be even more unreliable and expensive.
Nice! Maybe the Chevron ruling will get rid of automobile DIC and ASS
Ooh, idea! They should charge you every time you activate your windshield wipers! $1.99 per swipe. Please insert credit card into dash while driving. And don’t forget to pay your headlight subscription. You like driving at night, right?
I heard that BMW charges every time the driver uses the turn signals. No wonder the Beemer douchebags don’t use them! lol
Off topic, but here’s yet MORE evidence that CO2 has ZERO impact on the dreaded “climate change”…..As for this demented push for NET ZERO from governments, not only would it cause even MORE damage to society (on top of the damage draconian COVID measures already caused to modern society over the past 4 years), it would also make billionaires and the Green energy lobby “Filthy rich”…….
https://thehighwire.com/editorial/new-peer-reviewed-study-co2-has-zero-impact-on-climate-change/
“…it would also make billionaires and the Green energy lobby “Filthy rich”…….”
“What?! You’re telling me that B-ILL Gates and other multi-billionaire “ph-ILL-anthropists” actually benefit from global crises?! Nah, that’s just “conspiracy theory”! -Typical lib-tard
I purchased two 16 ounce spray cans of automotive paint, 175 dollars. I was taken aback, I dunno, taken to the cleaners, maybe.
I ranted and raved for days and days. jk
Pick the tires you want if you have to pay for them. Maybe even pick your wheels, have the tires you bought on the car are credited and have your own installed.
Take new wheels too, all mounted and balanced, change out each tire with the wheel, easy peasy. Leave them at the dealership, they can mount them onto another car in the lot. New tires and wheels will sell.
I do recommend Cooper tires. Cooper tires are always reliable.
They don’t make a flat spot in cold weather at the contact spot with the driveway. They are good tires.
Sorry, drumphish, but I’m going to counter you by saying the Cooper CS5 all-season tires on my Fusion are the worst tires I’ve ever had. Zero traction in snow, not great handling, and noisy. They stopped making them around the time I bought them. I want General Altimax tires.
Some paint stores will custom mix paint if you give them the factory paint code…about $40 for a 16 oz spray can….
OT., but I just had to post this. It’s great!
“Hey Joe (Biden)” (Parody of Jimi Hendrix’s Hey Joe)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHm4P4sZovQ
I just realized that I haven’t had a car that was anything but white, black or charcoal since the 80s.
I also just realized that I’ve likely purchased my last new car.
From your headline I just had a funny thought of seeing all the cars on a dealer’s lot up on blocks. Had to laugh.
Harley Davidson has been playing the “pay for paint” game for decades. At least no interior color to ding you for. Oops, I take that back – in the ‘90s they had the “MooGlide”, a Harley model with a cow hide seat complete with the hair.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/263029/1993-harley-davidson-flstn-moo-glide/
That’s what happens when you put MBAs and marketing people in charge of these things.
A few years back I tried to buy Golf R in something other than a monochrome color. Black, white & gray (a few deep.blue) were offered but VW had this thing called Spektrum. A vast catalog of absolutely gorgeous colors.
A have a personal fetish for yellow cars. Spektrum offered two available under special order. The catch, only “authorized” dealers could order the special colors! Catch 2, no authorized dealers within 150 miles of me.
I went to all 3 local dealers and attempted to order the one I wanted. All kicked back.
I love VWs but VWOA marketing department consists of absolute morons.
When I travel to Europe I am amazed at the variety of cars VW sells there that they deny us here. My driver in London had a Sharan mini van TDI, 55 mpg in the city. They won’t sell the Scirocco here because they don’t want to cannibalize GTI sales, but try getting a GTI of any color today, they only want to push those stupid ID devices. The VW California camp mobile, not available in California or any other US state!
I’ve pretty much given up on VW. Once my Atlas gives it up it will probably be my last VW. The new one looks like a device inside with a stupid tablet glued to the dash and no gearshift or guages.
A sad state of affairs.
Just wait until you need body work and PPG no longer mixes large quantites of that particular color code so the paint will be a special order.
I’m experiencing that now with a 2001 Toyota color code for what was a fairly standard dark green.
Do you think the recent scotus decision on the “Chevron Deference” could begin to roll back regs such as NHTSA’s FMVSS 127 requiring “advanced driver assistance technology” on all new cars by 2029? Here’s hoping. Curious to know your thoughts.
Hi Dan,
I hope so. But I think it won’t happen absent a Franco-like assertion of power by Trump. If he doesn’t seize the day, it’s just a matter of time before it all comes back. Like weeds you cut back but don’t kill.
Well put. The decision seemingly opens the door for it to happen, but it will of course still require the political will to do it. Here’s hoping orange man surrounds himself with people who actually read stuff. By the way, I discovered you on the Tom Woods Show years ago and have been a regular here ever since. You should see if you can get back on .
Thanks, Dan!
I’ll drop Tom a note; it’s been awhile and – I agree – it’d be nice to have a chat with him again.
I remember when they started to charge extra because it had “pearl” in the paint name and now they just charge extra because the car’s painted. I had my Camaro painted Butternut Yellow as it’s a solid color and easier to touch up, Cosmic Yellow Pearl not so easy.
If buying off the lot try doing what I do to Temu. Argue every defect to get the price driven down. If they say they can buff it out know that it will thin out the clear coat.
If they say that the car comes with extras tell them you don’t want them. Leave and toss them a business card with just your first name and an email address. Why? If they have your full name and address they just look you up on Redfin and see the fancy house and figure you’ll pay more.
With car makers in a suicidal death spiral accommodating “regulations”, why not fleece their customers as much and as often as possible? Get it while the getting is good.
Why are they forcing people into 5000 lb, $50,000 EV’s that get 25 mpg?…..that is wasting a lot of fuel and polluting more….
There was a far better solution to cut pollution by using less fuel….a car that could get over 100 mpg…..so less polluting, because it uses far less fuel….a car far smaller and lighter that wasted far less resources when it was built, which gave it a much smaller carbon footprint when built……and no 1000 lb lithium fire bomb battery, to burn your house down when charging….no replacing expensive tires every 5000 miles…like an EV….
Powered by proven technology, a diesel engine….an engine that can last 400,000 miles….and has a huge range…..not an EV with hardly any range…..not an EV that is scrapped at 100,000 miles…because the battery is dead and the car is unrepairable anyways……
The Audi A2 3L – The REAL 100 MPG car!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTPnQneEtVs
The Audi A2 3L only weighs about 1900 lb….so brakes and tires last far longer….the engine only weighs about 200 lb….it can get up to 120 mpg and carries five people….as an economy car, the best car ever built….a great daily driver…or a money saver for a long trip….
for poor slaves…the best car ever built….the economy is bad…bring these back….
This makes hybrid’s and EV’s look stupid and wasteful….so the government banned these…diesel…the best solution….the best engine….
I got a solid 85mpg in a VW Polo TDI over 3 weeks driving all over Italy. (Only 2 of us in the car but the wife’s luggage was equivalent to a 3rd person)
When I go to gmc.com and build my dream truck, onyx black adds $495. I’m pretty sure it’s down from $695 but wouldn’t swear by it. For easy math, $500 on a freakin’ $80,000 truck is .625%. So, yeah GMC, that $200 savings is gonna seal the deal. Morons.
Makes the advertised price (starting at…) lower, and it becomes a sales tool.
Customer: “Oh look! The once-econobox once-British car is only $45,000! Let’s buy two!”
Salesman: “OK Great! But you’ll want to get a custom color, right? How else will you tell them apart?”
Customer: “YES! I want a blue one!”
Salesman: “Cool. With the custom color it will be an extra $650.”
Customer: “Whoah! Six-hundred-fifty dollars for a paint color!??”
Salesman: “And you’ll have to order it direct, takes 6-8 weeks for delivery.”
Customer: “What else have you got?”
Salesman: “Well, let me talk to my manager… Maybe we can figure out something.”
Later that visit…
Salesman: “The boss says I can knock off $350 and throw in matching floor mats!”
Customer (now tired and just wanting to leave): “Ok deal!”
Mini (aka BMW), and BMW itself, are possibly the worst at these upsells.
Metallic paint is costlier, and specific metallic paint is costlier still.
Other “options”: cell phone charger, leather interior, cooled seats,
heads-up display, remote start, better sound system.
BMW is a “luxury brand”? Many of these “options” are standard
equipment in vehicles half the price. And the standard engine in
many BMWs – 4-cylinder (Vega/Pinto territory).
Audi followed the same script. You want the premium stereo? Only available if you order leather seats. You want a color other than black, white or grey? $400!
Back in the olden times, VW’s TDI Jetta was mechanically every bit the equal of the Audis without the premium price. But that was cutting into Audi’s sales so they pulled the independent rear suspension and made it into an inferior product intentionally.
I had read (and then Eric covered it later), where some vehicle makers are charging customers a “subscription” service to turn on and use the heated seats. Sorry, but that would just suck, especially in these parts. Nothing is nicer than the auto start, and having the warm seats at -30 below on a chilly day. I mean, what the hell? Pretty soon, you will have to have a subscription to have the car run even after you pay it off. Oh wait, that is called registration and taxation. Never mind….
“The other reason has to do with the cost of replacing it, which few will be able to do themselves – because getting at it will usually require significant disassembly of other parts of the car just to get at the other battery.”
The Reality Of Modern Car Repair is an Expensive One….
Lots of disassembly to make a small repair….huge labour cost….these cars are made for quick assembly…for more profit…not for repairing….they don’t care about the mechanics repairing them…..Toyota is the worst….profit first….
Watch and see the problem…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcOCckVS6XA
Make it more expensive and painful to own and drive a car….turn people off….maybe they will give up…..
All my cars are old….I will not buy any new car……walking is better then putting up with that expensive bullshit….for a horrible experience….
Just buy an older analog car…but….
They are coming for your car. An insurance insider speaks out.
coming in the future….You will not be able to insure a car that is not connected to the grid..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwEg7BvQXsg
Maybe they think they want that, but in reality they don’t.
I surmise that is where the kill switch (coming soon to vehicles) comes into play, Anonymous. It makes it so much easier to control the masses. Which this guy mentions. Pay more for more weight because you have passengers? But wait, I thought the HOV lanes were a way of “saving the environment” by having fewer vehicles on the road, with this “ride sharing”? Aaaah, be patient, and they will reveal what they really want: To get us peons out of our vehicles entirely. And if it means making driving so miserable we stop doing so, that is okay by them. They get the end result: Control over the rest of us.
When I read the title of your article, Eric, my first thought was, “oh good grief, they are going to charge extra for us to drive off the sales lot with the four wheels attached? But I surmise I should not give them any ideas. Hell, I would pay extra to NOT have the assisted crap on vehicles. Give me a standard trans, no nannies/speed limiters/breathalyzers, etc. You know, the way vehicles used to be, and leave me the hell alone. Being left alone: Since when was that a crime, especially when one is not committing a crime? Especially when you consider that those forcing the assistance are the real criminals.
Throw in the trend toward bland, grayscale colors due to the economy and it makes some sense why car makers don’t go with a more vibrant palette. Why offers colors few will choose?
Despite the boasts of The Greatest Economy Ever Since The Dawn Of Time Thanks To Biden The Great, the economy sucks, big time. And the great unwashed masses know it. They know it every time they open their thinning wallets. I guess the question will become, who cares what colors the car I can’t afford comes in?
The relationship between a lousy economy and bland colors has been written about for quite a few years. Here is just one example…
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/car-colors/
Indeed, Mark –
Every time I go grocery shopping and come face-to-face with how much it costs to eat – not fancy stuff, just basic staples – I think to myself: How are people getting by? I suspect the cost of eating has increased by at least 30 percent and that takes a chomp out of what’s left of most people’s income, especially after they pay the rent. How soon before they can either keep on paying the rent – or eat?
Pick one…
Eric, if one only watches the big “news” networks, the talking heads are proclaiming that the economy has never been better and inflation is “coming down”. It’s the deplorables who are unable and uneducated to grasp it. When I get to the checkout to pay for groceries, what little color I have left in my hair gets grayer as my wallet empties. I don’t know if autos went up in price more or if grocery carts have. Flip a coin!
Indeed, Allen –
I find that two plastic bags of nothing-special groceries will typically leave me $80 lighter in the wallet. I feel lucky in that I only have to buy food for two people; people who have two or three kids to feed? My God. How do they eat?
I’m being very serious. It’s no longer just bitching about “how prices.” We are at the point – or very close to it – that lots of people are going to have to choose whether to buy food or pay the rent. I mean people who have never before had to worry about that.
…and that is hoping you do not need laundry soap or other cleaning products that particular trip. I hear that Virginia sales taxes everything. Is this true? I feel for families with kids, as well. Survival gardens (such as they had during the Great Depression) may come back, whether the Feds like it or not.
That is why Virginia has license plates for the front and rear of your vehicle. So they can tax you coming and going!
In my neck of the woods, you only need one plate, and you put it on the back. It is very weird, because such a law was just passed. But, even prior to this, many vehicles only had one back plate, and state troopers were not in a quandary about it. Yes, my one friend mentioned all the cameras, and the toll areas, as well. They are going to tax you even after you die! You will get a tax bill, whether you end up in Heaven OR Hell, it seems.
“inflation is “coming down”
The filthy liars know that this only means that inflation is not increasing as fast as before. It is not coming down. The climb towards the cliff is only slowing slightly.
Filthy thieving bastards.
It doesn’t matter that inflation is coming down, prices are still going up.
And that would actually be fine, were it not for the fact that wages aren’t going up nearly as much, nearly as quickly.
Somebody is getting screwed.
Every time someone begins to figure that out, they are publicly labeled as an imbecile. I suppose that helps keep the scam going, at least as long as that little game keeps working.
Eric, I read that the true unemployment rate is 25% at Shadowstats. I’ve often wondered, how do those people survive that refuse to work? I’d love to see a book written that explains how they do it, just to satisfy my curiosity.
Hi Gary,
I can shed a little light… I know of a situation involving someone who has a bunch of kids; this person receives benefits for each one, enough to buy a lot of food. Add to this the bevy of other “free” things that one can avail oneself of (as well as laws that make it easy to not pay your rent for months if not years without being kicked out) and the living’s not that hard.
It’s working to pay your bills that is.
And when the dollar crashes, which it will sooner or later, what will they do? THAT is scary.
The sick economy is a lot like Biden’s mental condition. The media and government try to hide it until they either can’t anymore or showing the poor condition suddenly fits their new narrative. Assuming Trump become president again, I think the sick economy will suddenly become apparent. Of course the media and government agencies will be shocked, shocked.
Captain Renault in Casablanca:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxnpY0owPkA
If Trump is “allowed” to win this time around, I think they will crash the economy (which has been coming for a long time), ala, Great Depression 2.0 and WW3, and hang it around his neck, and blame him for the whole thing. Never mind that the dollar has been worthless long before Trump walked into the political sphere. He just may be the stupid fool who will be blamed for everything. For I do not know how anyone cannot see how far gone we are as a nation. You cannot spend a trillion dollars every 3 months, and think things will go well for anyone.
No need to blame Trump. Russia is to blame for everything now. They’ll unleash a computer virus that’ll crash the banking system and the dollar, and blame the Russia for this. Whitney Webb wrote about this back in 2021.
https://unlimitedhangout.com/2021/02/investigative-reports/from-event-201-to-cyber-polygon-the-wefs-simulation-of-a-coming-cyber-pandemic/
I surmise that is where a “digital dollar” could come into play, Yuri. And if that is not a nightmare…
Credit cards, payday loans, loans from parents, and, in the last few years, Buy Now Pay Later services like Affirm.
The IRS just changed the rules allowing for $1000 withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s. The check comes with restrictions, but that’s a lot of cash just in time for the election season.
Everyone can chill on weekends for the next couple of months.
To eat really well….fresh organically grown meat and fruit….fresh seafood….raw milk and cheese, etc….costs a lot of money…probably only rich people can eat that way…
The slaves on the bottom?…..forced to eat cheap crap…lots of processed food…full of chemicals…..living on craft dinner….never could afford roast beef or steak….soon bugs only…..
They were brainwashed by their TV to buy and eat this crap, by the big food corporations….then their health is destroyed and they become a big pharma customer…..if they eat fast food…the same outcome….
In this video Dr. Saladino shows you how to buy good food on a small budget….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYjFtiBqEsU
Eric,
Where have you been? Tesla’s been charging extra for non-standard colors for YEARS! You can thank Tesla for starting this trend.
Indeed, Mark!
Thanks for the reminder; I just added a paragraph to thank Tesla for that.
The best part is, if you want a non-standard color, Tesla charges you like $1,500 or $2,000 for it!